Friday, 4 March 2011

Plenty of interesting stuff around today and of course a match to prepare for tomorrow. A vital three points are up for grabs and if we win then we'll certainly put pressure on Manchester United who don't play until Sunday.

We'll start with something a bit more left field than usual. Jack Wilshere vs Alex McLeish is something you don't expect to hear about but the Birmingham City manager has responded to Wilshere's tweet about Barry Ferguson slapping Laurent Koscielny on the head.

However this wasn't a 140 character response via Twitter. It's a 121 word missive via the old media of newspapers.

"It's not my world, Twitter and all that stuff. Cyber-bullying is not for me. We'll draw a line under it and move forward."

Cyber-bullying? Are you taking the Michael?

Ferguson ought to have been charged by the FA for unsporting behavior. Instead McLeish is trying to turn him into some sort of national hero because he played in the final with a broken rib. Can't have been that serious if he's in the squad to play this weekend?

Talking of the weekend, Nicklas Bendtner has been talking about making sure we take advantage of

Manchester United's slip up against Chelsea which allows us to win the league - IF we win all our remaining games.

"It was a great result by Chelsea on Tuesday, but we still have to take advantage of it on Saturday.

"If we don't take advantage of it against Sunderland, then it does not really matter."

It is vital that we take advantage. You just don't know what kind of physiological pressure it will put on Manchester United, with us being one point behind them. They're playing Liverpool Sunday lunchtime and without their first choice central defenders you'd hope that Liverpool will want to take the game to them.

It's also Kenny Dalglish's 60th birthday today, so I'm sure his players will want to give him a weekend to remember.

I think the Dane will start tomorrow, again on the right.

The early team news is that Cesc Fabregas won't be risked tomorrow and Alex Song is also out. Song is also a doubt for the match at the Camp Nou on Tuesday.

Laurent Koscielny has "a chance" to be involved on Sunday and Aaron Ramsey is back in the squad following his spell at Cardiff.

Elsewhere there is a very good interview with Samir Nasri in the Daily Mail where he talks mostly about France. However he does reveal he's yet to sign his new contract with the club, despite reports last weekend he had.

And finally, a bit of transfer rumour for you. The Daily Mail say we're looking at Celtic's Emilio Izaguirre because there is fears Gael Clichy won't sign a new contract with the club.

The manager will speak with the media later, so I'm sure we'll get an update on the Clichy situation plus all things injury related.